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"For this mini-game, each trinity will have to make their social app profile attractive to the public by posting pictures and whatnot.
Because 1 million a.i users will be checking exclusively you guys's profiles out and pick which one they want to follow."
"The trinity who amasses the most followers within 7 minutes wins."
(At first the timer was longer but the developers recently made that change of making the video game go by faster because of that Taehyun situation.)
"You can get bonus points if you get the most likes too."
"I have a question—"
"No questions,
the timer starts now."
Beomgyu randomly decided to nod. "What's interesting is that we are expected to make attractive pictures while we are stuck in this dark purple room with nothing exceptionally interesting."
Taehyun pulled his phone out, and saw how 45 people are already following them for some reason. These 1 million users only have access to 3 profiles to follow which significantly reduces the competition. Seems like 45 of them showed interest in their profile even though it had nothing at the moment.
Their username is simply called TGM.
Wondering if they have access to the other trinities' profiles, Taehyun searched up TGY and a page actually popped up.
"120,5k followers?!!"
And all they had was an ordinary selfie with the three of them in it. It got like 200k likes on it though. These users probably followed them because they're the only ones who actually have content at the moment.
(They can unfollow!)
The 879,5k who aren't following TGY are probably waiting to see what the 2 other trinities have in stock.
Taehyun looked up from his phone and called the player. "Beomgyu hyung." As the older turned to him, Taehyun immediately snapped a photo of him.
"Yah!" Beomgyu reached to grip the phone. "Don't do that without warning."
"If I asked you to strike a pose, you'll probably look awkward." Taehyun said, eyes glued on the phone screen.
"Take a pic of yourself then."
"We need to post the most attractive pictures possible though..." He mumbled in a bashful voice, indirectly saying that he thinks Beomgyu is better looking than him.
"Exactly, so let's make you the first post." Beomgyu said, aiming his own camera at him.
Taehyun shook his head immediately, the older seemed slightly irked. "Come on you're so cute, people will love you." The younger blushed as he tried to avoid being in the camera's view but Beomgyu kept chasing after him.
During that whole time, Asuka had casually taken a selfie of herself making the gyaru peace. Her photogenic face allowed her to post the first attempt.
She then filmed a video of Iseul writing something then showing the sheet to the camera.
It said 'Plz follow or I will be sad'
Taehyun's eyes widened after seeing the number of followers they got with just those two posts.
"354.7k..."
Beomgyu blinked. "Said what?"
"Asuka got so many likes on her selca too.."
"Kang Taehyun, let's take a selca as well."
"Separately or.. t-together..?"
"Separately." Beomgyu then went off to find a place in this room with better lighting.
~~
With TGY
"Aargh!!!! TGM are stealing our followers with their pretty ass faces!" Yeonjun raged, after seeing their rival's page.
"We are better looking than them! The people are just blind." Soobin tried to comfort the older.
Meanwhile, Kai was checking out TGL's page, they got the least amount of followers: about 90k. They posted a picture of their pet rock, and for some reason it's getting quite a lot of traction. Their most popular photo at the moment is a photo of Yoojung and Riki holding the rock like a king.
"Yoojung, she's so cute.." Kai mumbled to himself, he doesn't know how to go about Yoojung. She's 3 years older than him which intimidates him in some time of way.
He went back to TGM's page. "Iseul's video is getting a lot of attention, how about we film Dave speaking?"
"That's boring as hell- OH MY GOD I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING GENIUS!"
"Oh what is it?!" Yeonjun's excitement quickly rubbed off on Soobin.
"Let's film ourselves killing Kai!! We'll get a hell load of attention from that!!"
Those words came as a bombshell to Huening Kai. He just stood there, staring at him like 'Are you serious?'
"Oooh~ interesting but won't that gain us haters instead of followers?" Soobin was cautious.
"It won't, people are sick bastards, just watch."
Yeonjun then asked for Soobin's knife and after getting it from him, he turned to their maknae while Soobin began recording on his phone.
"Wait wait can't we find another way?!" Kai kept taking steps away and his heart jumped when the shiny weapon was raised at him. "CAN'T WE FIND ANOTHER WAY?!"
~~
With TGM
"W-Why did we lose so many followers so suddenly?!"
"TGY posted a video not too long ago.. And I gotta say... the originality is something else." Beomgyu let the younger take a look at his phone.
On-screen was Yeonjun approaching Kai with a knife, then at some point Huening Kai put his invisibility cloak on to hopefully lengthen his aliveness which disoriented Yeonjun for a second since he disappeared.
Hueningkai brusquely shoved Yeonjun away which gave ghost vibes on camera. The older landed on his backside, so Kai quickly grabbed the knife and it's that moment that a 'floating' knife stabbed Yeonjun in the arm.
The phone that was held by Soobin, dropped to the ground, and an invisible being hurried to pick it up while hoping that it was still recording. And that's when the video ended.
"They have around 700k followers now, we went down to 200k while their number is still rising.. The timer is almost over too. How are we supposed to surpass them in time??" Taehyun was getting really troubled, the chances of them catching up are small if you think about it.
"I got an idea." Beomgyu raised his hand and said with zero emotions in his voice. "Let's film porn."
Taehyun gave him a light slap. "Are you nuts?"
"That's what this horny society likes Kang Taehyun— Oh wait I just got a more appropriate idea, 2 of the three of us should make out on camera."
"But isn't that so weird..?"
"Do you have a better idea?! Kang Taehyun we don't have time to address the weirdness of the situation, we have ONE minute left!"
Beomgyu sullenly looked at the girl. "Asuka if you don't mind... I think it's Taehyun and I that should kiss because—"
"Yeah yeah I know, boy-on-boy action will get more attention. Just don't count on me to film it." Asuka has been sitting in her little corner with Iseul, this time she turned to face the wall.
Beomgyu quickly positioned the phone somewhere it could stand alone to film them. He then approached Taehyun, "It should start recording in 3 seconds." He said.
Taehyun didn't look too happy. "I always thought of kissing as a private moment with someone you like, I don't want to do it for a bunch of people's entertainment..'
He wasn't sure if he heard it right but it sounded like Beomgyu whispered something along the lines of "Part your lips." Instinctively Taehyun did so and it wasn't long until a hungry tongue plunged into his mouth as Beomgyu pressed the younger's waist against his own.
A hum of pleasure escaped Taehyun's mouth almost instantly, he looped his arms around Beomgyu's neck and let himself melt deeply into this snog as they exchanged countless smooches on the lips.
It's been about 10 seconds which was enough for Asuka. The two boys had already forgotten about the camera and she could tell. 'The fact that they're not even acting...' She grabbed the phone without interrupting them and said. "This is what I have to deal with." Before stopping the recording.
She put that sentence as a caption and posted the video.
25 seconds of the timer remain..
Asuka was sitting there staring at their follower count changing live.
Beomgyu pulled away from Taehyun quite suddenly. "Shit I forgot why we even started doing this!!"
"Ah me too!!" Taehyun's heart was already racing so much from kissing his crush but it got worse from the stress felt over the 'fact' that they didn't stop the recording in time.
"Too bad.." Asuka mumbled.
"Mini game is over."
The walls that were separating every trinity went back underground, resulting in everyone being one big group again.
"Before the results of challenge 2 come to light, do you guys remember how challenge 0 ended with y'all having to answer a question truthfully?"
"Right it was: who do you find the most physically attractive among the others or something." Yoojung said. "I picked Asu-chan!!!"
"You guys will be doing this again but with a different question of a similar theme."
Beomgyu made a huge sigh.
~~~
'This time, I'm picking the orange room.' Beomgyu opened the orange door.
He entered a quite tiny room, all there is is an orange computer displaying a question and a door that'll unlock once he types his answer down. What a déjà vu.
"Ok let's see... Let it not be something dumb again."
'You've got to be kidding me once again. At least the answer is obvious.'
~~~
After everyone answered, they were guided to this dreamy and cozy vast pastel lavender room.
Everyone sat on the sofas that were as soft as clouds, the giant TV that'll be displaying the results was in front of them. There are even some purple candies to munch on, Kai gladly took in a handful.
J-hope was standing beside the TV.
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"During challenges, lies can be detected even without the traitor hearing them. Let's start with the cosplaying mini-game:
TGY gets:
0 points for Hinata getting the cosplayer right.
100 performance points for the cosplaying job.
500 penalty points
TGL gets:
1000 points for Hinata getting the cosplayer wrong.
500 performance points for the cosplaying job
0 penalty points.
TGM gets:
1000 points
1000 performance points
0 penalty points.
The lie said by a TGY member was 'Sure' (when Soobin asked if he looked like a girl.)"
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"Now for the flask mini-game.
TGY gets:
1000 points for getting the right answer first.
100 performance points for being subtly smart about things.
500 penalty points.
TGL gets:
0 points for never finding the answer.
0 points for being dumb about things.
0 penalty points.
TGM gets:
500 points for finding the answer second.
500 performance points for being smart about things.
0 penalty points"
Lie said by a TGY member:
'Sure. He took one for the team.'
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"Lastly the followers mini-game.
TGY gets:
2100 points for gaining 210k followers
0 points for losing.
0 penalty points
TGL gets
1050 points for 105k followers
0 points for losing
0 penalty points.
TGM gets.
"6850 points for 685k followers
1000 points for winning
100 bonus points for having the post with the most likes (800k)
0 penalty points.
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"What the hell kind of post did y'all do to have 800k likes on it..?" Yoojung said while opening the app on her phone. Taehyun and Beomgyu's faces had gone pink from the upcoming embarrassment but thankfully it seems like the app isn't working anymore.
"7950 points though..." Yoojung felt like crying at the huge number her adversaries received with just that minigame.
'Asuka posted the video then...' Beomgyu thought, 'I'm so glad she was there. It really saved us which I don't find surprising.'
"We did way better with penalty points in this challenge!" Someone said.
"Wait where's Koyuki?"
"She's dead for good." Yoojung sighed. "It's just me and Niki-kun now..."
"Yeah anyway I'm screwed with just this woman on my team."
"Y'all aren't a trinity anymore, more like a binity." Beomgyu scoffed.
"BGL!" Yeonjun laughed out but immediately made himself small from the sting felt in his arm since he was priorly stabbed there by Kai.
"I hope you guys are not forgetting the results of the little quiz y'all did."
"Why is the quiz even a thing? If it's to catch us lying, the question asked isn't even the kind that you'd lie about, especially since it's anonymous." Riki looked done.
.
.
.
"One person lied."
Last time it was TGM who lied, because Beomgyu somehow couldn't see that he thought Taehyun was the most physically attractive to him. But Asuka doesn't think the lie came from their trinity this time, she knows who she would like to sleep with and it's clear to her now that her teammates want to have sex with each other.
"And that person is from Trinity Girls."
"Okay it's not us so I don't care." Chill as ever, Beomgyu let his back fall on the sofa.
"Are. you. kidding. me?" Yoojung uttered.
"Don't act surprised!" Riki groaned as he rolled his eyes. "Why'd you lie that's so dumb!!"
"Like last time, the mentions will be shown to you. But you won't know who picked who."
Asuka: 2 mentions
Beomgyu: 2 mentions
Taehyun: 2 mentions
Yeonjun: 1 mention
Soobin: 1 mention
"Someone tell me why TGM are always a popular pick." Not only was Yeonjun tired but his arm hurts.
Noticing that Beomgyu didn't look that chill anymore and actually looked kind of mad as he was staring prolongedly at the TV, Taehyun who was sitting next to him poked his arm. "What's wrong?"
'Who else picked Taehyun? Who the hell picked him? Now what the fuck he's mine, who the- who is this random ass person who wouldn't mind sleeping with him?!'
Riki had pulled his teammate aside and confronted her about this whole lying thing. "Yah Yoojung who'd you pick??"
"Asu-chan obviously, what about you huh?! Niki Minaj!"
"The same as you.." Now the boy was weirded out that they have this in common. He doesn't necessarily desire nor plan on doing it with her, and even if it does happen, Asuka would catch a case since he's a minor. It's just that if he had to pick someone, it'll be her.
"Which one of us lied then..?" Yoojung wondered in a soft voice. "I don't mean to point fingers but I really do think it's you."
Riki shrugged.
Yoojung went back to where everyone else was standing.
The youngest was still confused. 'I mean I'm straight so... if it's not Nakaya, the girls in my trinity are left but hell no, I don't like them that way.'
He then felt a little pat on his shoulder, as he turned around, the close sight of the person made his heart skip a beat.
They just ooze with an overload of attractiveness that quickly made him panic a little inside, the main aspect that pops out to Riki's eyes are their lips, they look so lustrous and kissable. Riki never saw them this way, but ever since he admitted to be low-key crushing on that girl version of them.. He started feeling disgustingly weird.
"I just came to ask if you picked Taehyun."
Riki covered his ears, feeling that they got redder. "No, go away."
"Ok."
Riki turned around as he went back to his initial thought before the interruption. 'So anyway.. If it's none of the girls who the fuck could I have possibly picked? I don't get it. No one comes to mind.'
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OLD RANKING
NEW RANKING
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"Asuka we finally got first place!!" Taehyun giggled as he clung to her arm excitedly.
Although she didn't want to celebrate with him, the girl couldn't help but crack up a smile. They had a rough beginning with all the penalty points but it's refreshing to see how far they grew.
"What the hell this shit is rigged!! 18250 fucking points?!! Nah nah this is because the game wants the player's trinity to win!" The oldest male challenger complained.
"Can we go to the residency floor? Yeonjunie hyung needs a rest.." Soobin said, hugging the guy.
"Of course, you now have access to the elevator. It was nice having you all here, enjoy your well deserved last free time." J-hope said, showcasing his nice teeth with his smile.
Everyone started heading away. Except for Kai who felt this weird feeling in him, a feeling that's screaming at him that he's forgetting something.
He turned around and saw Hinata silently waving at him from afar with a sad little smile on her face. "Good luck!" She mouthed.
Huening Kai immediately ran to her.
"You're not coming with us??" He said as he arrived in front of the girl.
"I only exist on this floor Huening Kai. My only meaning was to be with you guys during the first 2 mini games."
The taller's face saddened. "But...You've been like a guardian angel, how am I going to live without you?"
"I guess you won't." She chuckled softly, she's not in the mood to sugarcoat things. "I loved being with y'all, especially you of course, since it gets lonely here, I thought I'd see my cousin but I guess not."
She seemed a bit hesitant but she mumbled something that was hard to say. "I was going to ask for permission to do something but.. I need to realise that the feelings aren't mutual and you like someone else. I'm sorry if I was a bit forceful.."
Huening Kai didn't know what to reply..
"That thing you want to do... please do it. It's the least I can do to make it up to you.."
Her doe eyes met his as she looked up.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I am."
"Okay um.. could you like.." She made this lowering gesture with her hand. "Bend a little." She giggled shyly.
Kai levelled himself down to be a bit more at her height.
"Like this— mmph?!"
~~~
On the residency floor
"Ahh where's Hyuka?!" Taehyun and Beomgyu were standing next to the elevator. This was naturally initiated by Taehyun.
"Ugh why do we even have to wait for him?"
"I just wanna make sure that he got here safely- Ah Hyuka!" The boy exclaimed as the taller walked out of the box.
Since he was utterly ignored, Taehyun called him again. "Hyuka where are you going like this?"
"I need a minute to process things..." Taehyun stopped him in his tracks by grabbing his wrist then went in front of him to see his face.
Which was revealed to be very pink.
"Forget a minute, I need a few hours!!" His face went from pink to red within the seconds it took to say that and he ran off towards their mansion.
The two boys blinked.
"Anyway.." Beomgyu inched closer to hold Taehyun's hand. "We should get going too." He smiled at the younger boy.
Taehyun nodded, eyes sparky as always when he looks at Beomgyu. "Mhm!"
➴⧩---『🎮』---◭➶
Yes to thank Hinata, it's time to give 'Shooting star' and 'Mascara' by her girlgroup XG a listen.